The Many Faces of Adoption: From Childhood into Adulthood

Adoption weaves itself through the different developmental stages from childhood into adulthood. Parents and/or professionals need to know whether a child is working through an age appropriate task or an adoption related one. In this article we will identify some of these adoption related tasks, what they look like, what behaviors might be seen, and why counseling might be needed. Awareness of the developmental process of adoption is a major reason why use of adoption sensitive therapists can be helpful to adoptive families.

Preschool

The early years of pre-school are the start of a process of learning about adoption that will continue to develop over a lifetime. Children this age should not be bombarded with information as there is plenty of time for them to gradually understand who they are and where they came from. This is just the beginning. When pre-school age children see their friend’s mother pregnant, they first learn that they did not grow in their mother’s tummy. Pre-schoolers are confused about the meaning of adoption and therefore can easily distort information. They are concrete thinkers which makes it difficult for them to understand the abstract concept of adoption. At this age the child might become aware of obvious and noticeable physical differences within their families, such as in trans-racial adoptions. For example, in a trans-racial family, (such as a child of color with Caucasian parents), the child may ask “why do we have different skin colors?” The adoption sensitive parent may respond by referencing the child’s family of origin, ie, “the mommy in whose tummy you grew had beautiful brown skin just like yours.” This answers the question, and takes it a step further by helping the child build a positive self image relating to his culture and birth family. The earlier a family starts to integrate their child’s budding awareness of cultural, ethnic, and racial identity into their lives, the better.

Resource Organizations » Adoption » Duxbury

In Massachusetts

Adopt Us Kids

AdoptUSKids is a project of the U.S. Children's Bureau operated through a cooperative agreement with the Adoption Exchange Association. The project launched in 2002 with a two-fold purpose: To raise public awareness about the need for foster and adoptive families; and to support States, Territories, and Tribes in their efforts to find families for children in foster care, particularly the most challenging to place including older youth, those who are part of a sibling groups that need to be placed together, and children and youth of color, and to assist with placements across county and state boundaries.

Adoption Community of NE, Inc.

The Adoption Community of New England, Inc. (ACONE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1967 in Massachusetts as the Open Door Society. ACONE is committed to the right of every child to a safe and permanent home and to helping all persons touched by adoption achieve full and equal participation in society. ACONE is not a child placement service. It educates, supports, and advocates on behalf of all members of the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons. It assists members through all stages of their adoption-related experience by means of seminars, workshops, support groups, policy statements, legislative advocacy, and other measures. ACONE also works cooperatively with adoption professionals and agencies and presents one of the largest annual adoption conferences in the country to accomplish these goals.

Adoption Resources

Adoption Resources offers a variety of programs to assist individuals and couples pursuing adoption. Adoption Resources is licensed in Massachusetts to provide domestic and international adoption services, as well as a wide range of post-adoption services. Adoption Resources works with prospective adoptive parents from diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, making certain that each adopted child is placed in an appropriate, permanent, and loving home.

Adoptions With Love, Inc.

Adoptions with Love, Inc is a private non-profit, licensed domestic adoption agency that has been helping build families through adoption for nearly 25 years. Their mission is to provide prospective adoptive parents and birth parents with professional, sensitive and confidential services to facilitate successful placements that meet the individual needs of all members of the adoption triad. Their website also offers a range of resources for birth and adoptive families.

Mass.gov

If you are thinking about adoption, please consider the difference you can make in a child's life. You can find more information here. This site provides an overview of adoption services, how to become an adoptive or foster parent, as well as support services.

Massachusetts Adoption Research Exchange

The Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) was founded in 1957 to find "a permanent place to call home" for children and teens in foster care in Massachusetts, including sibling groups and children who are traditionally harder to place. They do this by recruiting, educating, supporting and advocating for families throughout the adoption process. MARE was then, and is now, the bridge between the state's Department of Children & Families, private adoption agencies, and adults interested in adoption. They recruit, educate, support and advocate for families throughout the adoption process while targeting recruitment efforts to attract potential parents for specific waiting children. In addition, they are the Commonwealth's central clearinghouse for adoption information and referral, and work to identify potential matches between children and families.

Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (MSPCC)

MSPCC is dedicated to leadership in protecting and promoting the rights and well-being of children and families. To prevent child abuse, MSPCC focuses on the needs of both the child and the parent. MSPCC’s work focuses on preventing or mitigating the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) including physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, household substance abuse, household mental illness, and domestic violence. By promoting social and emotional learning and supports for children as well as tools to improve parents’ skills, MSPCC employs a two-generational approach to improve outcomes for both children and parents. MSPCC combined with Eliot Community Human Services in 2016 to further strengthen the agency’s services and better address the needs of children and families. Services provided include pregnancy and parenting support, clinical mental health counseling and care coordination, adoptive and foster parent support, and advocacy. The website allows guardians and/or providers to place referrals for clinical services directly as well.

Outside Massachusetts

Adoption Connection

Adoption Connection, a non-profit, licensed adoption agency, is a non-sectarian program affiliated with Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin, and Sonoma Counties. Adoption Connection works with pregnant women and their families (often called birth parents) anywhere in the United States. They make sure all parties involved have a seamless adoption process from start to finish. While it can be a challenging journey at times, their seasoned professionals provide practical advice and support – both on the birth, and adoptive parent side, of the equation.

All-Options

All-Options (formerly Backline) promotes unconditional and judgment-free support for people in their decisions, feelings and experiences with pregnancy, parenting, adoption and abortion. Their Talkline offers peer counseling and support to people throughout the United States and Canada. They are the only national talkline that welcomes calls at any point during or after pregnancy, whether callers are looking for options counseling, support before or after abortion, or a chance to talk about parenting, pregnancy loss, adoption, or infertility.

Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE)

Providing a safe place for adoptees of all ages to share their thoughts and feelings about adoption, C.A.S.E. is a private, non-profit adoptive family support center. Its programs focus on helping children from a variety of foster care and adoptive backgrounds to receive understanding and support which will enable them to grow into successful, productive adults.

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Child Welfare Information Gateway promotes the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, youth, and families by connecting child welfare, adoption, and related professionals as well as the public to information, resources, and tools covering topics on child welfare, child abuse and neglect, out-of-home care, adoption, and more.

National Council for Adoption

Founded in 1980, the National Council for Adoption (NCFA) is an adoption advocacy nonprofit that promotes a culture of adoption through education, research, and legislative action. NCFA's mission is to meet the diverse needs of children, birthparents, adopted individuals, adoptive families, and all those touched by adoption through global advocacy, education, research, legislative action, and collaboration.

North American Council on Adoptable Children

Founded in 1974 by adoptive parents, the North American Council on Adoptable Children is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them. NACAC promotes and supports permanent families for children and youth in the U.S. and Canada who have been in care, especially those in foster care and those with special needs.

The Donaldson Adoption Institute

The Adoption Institute was established in 1996 by the Board of Spence­-Chapin Services to Families and Children (now Spence-­Chapin), which identified the need for an independent and objective adoption research and policy organization that addressed the needs of all those touched by adoption – first/birth parents, adoptees and adoptive parents.

Disclaimer: Material on the William James INTERFACE Referral Service website is intended as general information. It is not a recommendation for treatment, nor should it be considered medical or mental health advice. The William James INTERFACE Referral Service urges families to discuss all information and questions related to medical or mental health care with a health care professional.